Accounting professionals and CPD: attitudes and engagement—some survey evidence

Abstract

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a major issue in post‐compulsory education at the start of the twenty‐first century. This paper reports the results of a recent survey of accountancy members which explored attitudes towards CPD in relation to employability, career success and professional identity. Attitudes to CPD are chiefly correlated with identification with, and commitment to, the profession, rather than the length of time in the profession, job status, age, qualification level, or gender. Implications of this research for post‐compulsory education include an enhanced understanding of the motivation to engage in CPD and the benefits professional accountants perceive as arising from this, together with which CPD activities they actually engage in. This research should help professional accounting bodies better understand some of the attitudinal factors in CPD participation, and thus improve the design and communication of their schemes.